Magazine Associated With Peron Found Objectionable

Censor Finds Magazine Associated With Peron
Objectionable

By Scoop Chief Reporter Kevin List

A magazine containing writings by
controversial American Libertarian and Auckland book shop
proprietor Jim Peron has been found by the Censor’s Office
to be objectionable. According to New Zealand First leader
Winston Peters the magazine, titled Unbound, was
also published by Mr Peron.

Mr Peter’s had tabled Unbound
in Parliament in late March. Earlier in that month he
launched a scathing attack on Mr Peron and the circumstances
surrounding Mr Peron’s immigration application. In the
course of Mr Peters' attacks on Mr Peron it emerged that
ACT Leader Rodney Hide had written a letter to the New
Zealand Immigration Service regarding Mr Peron.

Mr
Hide’s office has declined to release a full copy of the
letter he wrote on Mr Peron’s behalf in 2001 to Scoop.

Mr
Hide today taunted the Prime Minister on his web diary for
failing to release transcripts of her conversations with
Sunday Star-Times staff in 2000:

“I am
sure Helen Clark would have no problem with the transcripts
being released – I mean she’s sure she’s got nothing to
hide…. “

Today when Scoop contacted
Mr Hide’s office for comments regarding the Censor’s
decision in regard to Unbound we were advised Mr Hide
would be making no comment on the matter whatsoever.

The
Immigration Service has also turned down a Official
Information Act request from Scoop to release Mr Hide's
letter on privacy (of Mr Peron's) grounds.

Mr Hide has
however disclosed some of the letter he wrote concerning Mr
Peron’s immigration status to the Dominion Post. In an
article written in early April, Haydon Dewes points out that
Mr Hide’s letter is general in tone, however two sentences
do traverse Mr Peron’s written work.

According to the
Dominion Post article Mr Hide wrote that nothing 'in the
voluminous writings’of Mr Peron would indicate positions
that would make him unworthy of working and living in New
Zealand.

At the time of writing the letter regarding Mr
Peron, Mr Hide had never actually met him.

After Mr
Peron had moved to New Zealand in 2002, Mr Hide became a
Director of Mr Peron’s Libertarian think-tank the Institute
for Liberal Values. Mr Hide has also described Mr Peron as
a ‘good friend’ in his web
diary.

Spokesperson
for the Censors' Office David Wilson explained that
Unbound Magazine, Volume 1, Number 4 was found to be
objectionable as of May 6 2005. According to Mr Wilson
the Censor’s copy of Unbound magazine had been
independently obtained by Internal Affairs after Mr Peters
had tabled it in Parliament.

The Censor’s classification
means that no-one at all can view Unbound, possess it, or
show it to anyone else. The Office of the Clerk have yet to
make a ruling on what to do with the documents tabled by Mr
Peter’s - however when Unbound was requested by Scoop last
evening, staff advised that it could not be viewed.

Among
the censor’s reasons for declaring Unbound objectionable
were that;

- It [Unbound] provides men with a sexual
interest in pre-pubescent boys with material that supports
and encourages this interest

- The magazine’s content
consistently puts forward a view of paedophile
relationships as being loving, legitimate and desirable to
both men and boys

- The magazine evades any reasons on why
society considers such relationships to be exploitative and
objective

Unbound was banned because in the Censor’s
opinion the magazine was promoting and supporting the
exploitation of children and young persons for sexual
reasons.

Mr Wilson explained that the decision related to
the entire magazine rather than one specific article. What
that means is that everything in the magazine is
objectionable, however if someone was to tear out a page
containing say, an ad for Coke – that by itself may not be
objectionable.

Journalists who had received copies of
Unbound were advised to get rid of these ASAP, as they would
now be technically committing the offence of
possession.

“If it is objectionable, they [journalists] are
technically committing the offence of possession and some
journalists in the press gallery were given it. Parliament
recently increased the penalty for that [possession of
objectionable material] to five years in prison. If it is
found to be objectionable then it is considered to have
always been objectionable before the fact it was submitted
as well. The advice is to get rid of it as soon as they
can,” cautioned Mr Wilson.

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